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Sweeping away more . . . Continue the Cleanse

10/12/2015

Autumn Leaves, Sir John Everett Millais, 1855 from Wiki Commons

October continues to be a perfect month to "clean house" both literally and figuratively. Plan your menu to feature the foods of the season--with an emphasis on winter squashes and apples. Soups, stews, fruit crisps and salads with nuts and seeds are all nourishing choices that will bring warmth and nutrition to your body. Drink some detox tea, and plenty of hot water throughout the day. I like to add a bit of warming ginger to mine. Now is also a great time to tackle cleaning up your environment. Keep sweeping away those layers of leaves!

More ways to cleanse: Clean out your pantry. Toss open bags of flour from months ago, anything expired, and donate foods that you know you won't consume. My daughter is into rice pasta now so the whole wheat was donated.
Do an "Amvets" clean out. Go through your dishes, pots, pans and kitchen gear looking for duplicate or odd pieces that you really don't use or need. Amvets will gladly take these.
Give books to your local library. Clean out your book cupboard. If you've read it, and know you are unlikely to re-read it, give it to an organization that can use it. Often retirement homes and churches are also looking for books.
Closet--start with your coat closet. Mismatched mittens go bye-bye. Do your boots need cleaning? A button needs replacing? See where you stand with outerwear.
Check out shoes and boots. I have two leather pair of boots that I have re-soled every year so that they continue to last.
Medicine/toiletries--clean it out. Take stock of what you have. Before you go buying that latest supplement or facial cream, see if there are items you can and should be using up. We don't want to waste the earth's resources. I'm currently taking ashwaganda for immunity building. I had bought it and not used it for months.
Get rid of emotional baggage. Winter means months spent indoors with your family, co-workers and friends. If you are carrying around any grievances or emotional wounds, heal them now. I suggest long walks where you hash it out internally and then let it disperse in the wind.
Pick a winter endeavor. It may be reading a really long book, or getting into some spiritual texts, or playing an instrument. Choose something that will occupy your mind in the coming months.
Garage/Basement Cleanout--yep, now's the time (especially if you want to park your car easily).
Yard Cleanup. Cut back that which is dried out, plant bulbs for spring, and yes, sweep away those leaves (and how about an old-fashioned leaf rake, not an annoying leaf blower). Good exercise!

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Refinement: More Paleo Cleansing Tips

9/27/2015

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An empty mirror and your worst

destructive habits, when they are held

up to each other,

that's when the real making begins.

That's what art and crafting are. --From Rumi's "Childhood Friends"

I'm definitely feeling the need to do some fall cleansing this week. My last blog outlines the principles of a gentle paleo cleanse, but I thought I'd add a few more suggestions for those who would like to go deeper and refine even more. I love Rumi's poem "Childhood Friends" because it emphasizes that our imperfections are what makes us uniquely human--and our inclination to change and address our shortcomings. He maintains that anyone who thinks they are "healthy enough" needs to do some work. Now I'm not advocating perfectionism (that is its own form of arrogance and hubris) but rather a willingness to be open to the exploration that comes with cleansing. Think about what prompts bad habits such as making the wrong food choices, getting too little sleep, not exercising, not taking time for quality reading or time spent in nature. Cleansing is a time to step out of the realm of "overwhelm" which often leads to exhaustion or sickness.

Some additional things to incorporate into a cleanse:

A saline nasal spray--to moisten the sinuses.
Rubbing a bit of coconut or olive oil inside the nostrils.
Running a diffuser at night with essential oil added. For fall I am loving Plant Therapy's "Fir Needle". Smells like autumn.
Taking a bath fortified with epsom salts (to soften the muscles).
Using a lovely body butter (I'm enjoying my peach one currently).
Spritzing your face several times a day with Rosewater (Heritage makes an affordable one).
Using squalene as a facial moisturizer. Squalene is the oil essence of olives (or other plant/faunal material). It will feel like a thick, dry oil on your face. Be patient and let it sink in. Very restorative. You can buy it for under $5 on Amazon.
Pay extra attention to the hands. I've been applying argan oil to the backs of them.
Listen to some inspiring music. I love Yo Yo Ma's "Goat Rodeo Sessions" this time of year, or Verdi's "Autumn"
Sit outside and enjoy the changing season. Do nothing but observe.

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Sweeping Away Dead Leaves: A Fall Paleo Cleanse

9/18/2015

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Autumn on the Hudson by Jasper Francis Cropsey, 1860, from Wiki Commons

Autumn provides many people with their favorite time of year in terms of weather, traditions, activities and the beauty of the season. The days of Indian Summer are warm and bright with brilliant blue skies while the nights are cool and crisp (perfect sleeping weather and part of what brings out the colors of leaves). Because of the changing temperatures, our bodies go into a form of cold diuresis similar to that of the falling leaves on the trees. We literally go from the sweating through summer into protecting our bodies from the oncoming drop in temperature. This can leave us urinating quite a lot (especially at night) and thus dehydrating ourselves. The skin gets drier, the nasal passages get irritated, little colds settle in or sore throats start to bug us.

Our bodies, while protecting us from the oncoming coolness, also want to kick out the internal heat we've built over the summer when we may have eaten more difficult food to digest than at other times of the year (think ice cream, corn on the cob, bbq, and anything you ate at the county fair). Therefore, fall is a great time to cleanse and there are a dozens of cleanses out there for you to try. I myself have done many--master cleansing, castor oil purges, oleation, kitchari cleanses, and so on. I will be honest, while I'm sure I got some benefit from them (at the very least a toning up of my discipline muscle), I think I may have also been too hard on my body. The "lemonade" of the Master Cleanse is way too acidic for my constitution (I wind up with a sour stomach and canker sores by day two). The castor oil purge felt great the first time I did it, but the next three I undertook left me increasingly fatigued (about four months apart). Oleation requires a big blowout at the end, and I'm just not interested in salt water flushes, enemas, or more castor oil. (Geez, call me a wimp). And I've got a bone to pick with kitchari. Every ayurvedic expert out there will write about how it is the most gentle food to digest, but just two meals of the mung beans and rice gives me gas so explosive that I not only cannot be in polite company, I literally wish I could leave my mortal body and go elsewhere for twenty-four hours! In other words, I want a cleanse that is GENTLE on the body (and the psyche). I want something that feels appropriately cleansing and nourishing both. And, given that paleo/low carb eating has taken weight, fat and bloat off of my body--I don't want to abandon my paleo principles for the sake of a cleanse (no all fruit or brown rice week for this gal).

This leaves me pondering how does one do a cleanse that fits a paleo/low-carb eating plan? The answer lies in whole foods that fit the season (and its special challenges), keeping proteins light and easy to digest, some simple cleansing practices (NOTHING extreme here) and some nurturing self-care and time for quiet reflection. I'd recommend engaging in this program for 3-7 days. Here are the guidelines:

Mentally prepare your "time away"--tell yourself and your family that this is your quiet, recharging time. Keep social obligations to a minimum and take a "media break" (no TV, Facebook or Twitter).
Find an inspirational text. Poetry, spiritual texts, philosophy, a memoir--whatever will give you something deeper to ponder and feel nourishing. I often turn to the poetry of Rumi or the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Set time aside for meditation, morning or evening, or BOTH. A few quiet minutes. No music, no guidance, just sit. Choose a special spot, use a meditation cushion or a chair (no rules against this, especially if your back or knees ache!
Morning routine: Brush teeth, scrape tongue, stretch, have a cup of hot water with lemon and ginger. If you need caffeine, go with green tea.
Breakfast=a sweet potato topped with ghee and walnuts, or a bowl of pumpkin puree with the same. Stew an apple to have on the side (a coarsely chopped apple with a bit of water and a couple of cloves, cook in a saucepan until soft). If you don't want warm food (like on a really warm day) then go with one of the smoothies seen in my blog below).
Lunch=Cauliflower Rice "Kitchari". See two recipes from two great bloggers: http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2013/03/30/cauliflower-rice-pilaf/ or http://theurbanposer.com/paleo-masala-cauli-rice-grain-free-vegan/
Dinner=The same as lunch or roasted veggies (carrots, cauliflower, garlic, beets, acorn squash or summer squashes--lots of olive oil, some red pepper flakes, and whatever seasoning you like). Or a light veggie soup. Add an easy to process protein like baked white fish or cottage cheese.
For snacks, give yourself more easy protein. Almond milk mixed with a scoop of vanilla protein powder, you can flavor with almond extract and/or spices (like cardomon or nutmeg or cinnamon) as well.
Drink lots of water throughout the day--preferably room temperature and one big mug of detox tea (Yogi Detox is easily found). Don't overdo on the detox tea.
Before bed have a cup of warmed almond milk to which you add a teaspoon of ghee, a teaspoon of tumeric and a teaspoon of raw honey (added after you take the milk off the heat).
Take a restorative walk each day.
Journal about your journey.
Hit the hay early.

And, if you want to take this deeper in the mental realm, sign up for the "Fall in Love with Autumn" course, or the "Healing Traditions" Course. Both are filled with nourishing knowledge. http://www.newagepaleo.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

Happy Sweeping! --Lisabeth

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Smooth Living

9/6/2015

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Image from Thermomix.com

As we head toward fall, now's a good time to ease up on the digestion. One of the easiest ways to do that is to replace one or more meals/snacks a day with a smoothie. Smoothies have gained much attention in recent years, but the ones you buy at fast food chains and restaurants are often loaded with calories and sugars (natural and added). It's much easier and cheaper to make custom ones yourself at home. I have not made the leap to buying a Vitamix (seems an excessive cost), but a Nutribullet works perfectly at a fifth of the cost. Get one and get blending. A liquid meal allows the stomach not to have to do so much work. The nutrition is made more quickly accessible, and, unlike juicing, you aren't tossing away the fiber nor concentrating so much natural sugar in the drink as you do with juice. Of course, paleo people didn't have blenders, thus this is a definite "New Age Paleo" invention. Appreciate the ease of modern living as you slurp one down!

Peach Blossom Smoothie: Start with a base of almond milk, add a tablespoon of almond butter, a few frozen (or fresh) peach slices, a frozen banana (all overripe bananas get peeled and thrown in the freezer smoothie bag at our house), a 1/4 tsp. of almond extract, a scoop of hemp protein (or whey protein for those alright with dairy) a teaspoon of honey (stevia if you are avoiding all sugar) and--here's the secret ingredient--a splash of orange flower water. The orange flower water gives this a subtle, yet vibrant, floral taste.
(http://www.amazon.com/Cortas-Orange-Blossom-Water-10fl/dp/B000LQJ6DK/ref=sr_1_1?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1441568236&sr=8-1&keywords=orange+flower+water&pebp=1441568239930&perid=0ZCTY32CDMVK7FJ75KXB)

Chocolate Cherry Almond Smoothie: Start with a base of almond milk, add a tablespoon of almond butter, a handful of frozen cherries, a frozen banana, a 1/4 tsp. of almond extract, a scoop of hemp protein (or chocolate whey protein for those alright with dairy) a teaspoon of honey (stevia if you are avoiding all sugar) and heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder. The cherries and almond meld into a distinctive and delicious delight, better than boxed chocolates.

"Green Apple" Smoothie: Start with a base of almond milk, add a couple of handfuls of spinach leaves, a chopped apple (skin on), a frozen banana, a scoop of hemp protein (or whey protein for those alright with dairy) a teaspoon of honey (stevia if you are avoiding all sugar), and two teaspoons of real "Ceylon" cinnamon. Drizzle the top with a bit of honey for a "caramel" effect if you like! A green, lean vitamin machine.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie: Start with a base of almond milk, add a 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, a frozen banana, 1/4 a chopped apple, a scoop of protein powder (hemp or whey), a 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla, a 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice (or garam masala, like pumpkin pie spice with pepper added), a teaspoon of maple syrup and a teaspoon of real Ceylon cinnamon. Why save the taste of pumpkin pie for when you're overstuffed at Thanksgiving Dinner?

Make It Smooth, Make It New Age Paleo--and check out our "Fall in Love" course special.
--Lisabeth
http://www.newagepaleo.com/store/p2/Fall_in_Love_with_Autumn.html

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Back to Paleo School

8/22/2015

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Painting by Norman Rockwell

Whether you are a student yourself, have a student/s returning to school, or are a teacher (like me)--a "back to school" mentality can be just the thing after summer. I know that extensive travel and special events made my summer eating not as clean as I would have liked, so going "back to school" and re-educating myself on eating a "new age" paleo way is just the thing for this time of year. So here's some basics--the foundations of learning when it comes to eating in a paleo way that fits our modern living.

A good place to start is to think about eating more whole foods and fewer processed foods. You want the bulk of your diet to come from vegetables (more non-starchy than starchy), fruits, nuts/seeds, meat/fish/poultry and eggs.
Make water your main beverage supplemented by teas, herbal tisanes, and coffee. Lay off any juice or sweetened beverages--and taper back on or eliminate alcohol (if drinking try to stick to simple drinks, not mixed ones with lots of sugar and/or additives).
Do all your eating before 7:00 p.m. More and more research, and even traditional/conventional wisdom of ancient healing systems, recommends eating more of your calories early in the day. Night time eating is difficult to process.
If you do get hungry at night, satiate with a comforting tea (I like decaf chai with almond milk and stevia added) or a warmed almond/nut milk with a bit of tumeric, honey (or stevia) and ghee, if you're looking for a bit of fat to satisfy.
With a busier schedule, I'm going to rely more on the crockpot. Try out some slow-cooked meats, soups and stews.
Schedule in exercise. Regular walking and weight-lifting will help you maintain your energy into fall.
Get to bed early! I'm not a night owl anyhow, but I know that I will need to make sure I'm asleep by 10:30 most nights since I get up at 6:15. I will not feel any guilt about going to bed even earlier.

This time between summer and the holiday season is especially important for getting a good pattern of eating and health routine established. View it with the same excitement of going "back to school" and it will be a breeze.

--Yours in learning, Lisabeth

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Hunting and Foraging

7/29/2015

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Pieter Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow, 1565 from Wiki Commons

No, I'm not a hunter--well, not in the "traditional" sense. I have no desire to bag Bambi, or shoot a wild goose, or make my own elk jerky. I respect those who have the skill, knowledge and fortitude to do so (so long as it is done responsibly and respectfully) but I'm not looking to find my own wild meat. I do, however, want to talk about hunting and foraging from a different angle as to my mind this fits with the whole "New Age Paleo" style. Fall is coming (eeekkk) and with that "back to school" shopping (we all know that the jump on this gets earlier and earlier each year). I'm suggesting that we view our acquisition of consumer goods/possessions as "hunting and foraging." It seems to me that there are basically two kinds of consumers: the first prides themselves on the brand name/price/prestige of their possessions. These are the folks who have expensive sports cars, Rolex watches, Coach bags, designer labels on every piece of clothing, whose children are decked out in Gap Baby or Osh-Kosh-By-Gosh. They may be the people who are up at 3:00 am ordering an Apple Watch or the latest iPhone release or Harry Potter book. Name, price and currency are important to this type of consumer. As you may have guessed, that's not me. My family experienced some hard financial times when I was a kid but we live in an affluent town--one where not having "Levi" jeans as a middle-schooler relegated you to true loser status. A pathetic mentality to my mind and one that I have resisted ever since as an adult. I hate wasting money on things that are overpriced or overvalued for what I perceive as the wrong reasons. Let's face it, at the end of the day designer-labeled clothes and handbags are still just mass-produced goods, so why pay the expensive price? I don't identify my self-worth through things, so spending money on status items or toys is not my idea of fun or good economics.

The other kind of consumer is the one who loves a bargain, who hunts for the best price possible and who can't pass up a clearance rack. Yes, this is me. I pride myself on paying what I want for goods, not what the market has determined. I will search until I find a price I can accept. And yes, I have the annoying habit of having to tell everyone how little I paid for an item. This kind of consumerism does have its own pitfalls and challenges. Patience (something I'm generally not noted for) is necessary for the hunter/forager. Just as you don't want to startle your prey with imprudent movement, the hunting/foraging consumer cannot count on getting something immediately or when it is most popular. (This means no buying your winter coat or swimsuit when they first appear in the stores--which is always when you can't really use them anyhow). Just as the forager has to wait until the wild greens grow, or the nuts fall, or the fruits ripen, this consumer has to have the temperance to wait until the right time to pick. That means perhaps buying your new swimsuit at the end of June (when you still have plenty of hot weather to use it) as the stores are making way for heavy wool coats and leather boots. The other pitfalls are buying things you don't need just because the price is good (I generally avoid this one but we all slip up now and again). And the aforementioned habit of bragging about good price. As my father often tells me, if someone compliments me on something I'm wearing I'm not obligated to let them know how little it cost: I can just graciously say "thank you." I need to work on that one!

I know our modern world revolves around a consumerist model, but it strikes me that we can all be more mindful of how we purchase things and the messages we send to our young people about possessions and acquisition. Here are some guidelines I've come up with:

Think about what is motivating you to make a purchase. Good design--form, color, line and utility, comes at every price range. A good eye is more important than a fat wallet. Are you buying a name brand just because you assume it is better, or because you think it will confer status on you? If the latter is your motivation, then you need to do some soul-searching about your self-identification. If your eye needs training, get some design books from your library and pore over them until you feel more comfortable with choosing well-designed clothes, furniture and accessories regardless of price.
Clearance racks are fun places to forage. See things with new eyes, perhaps different purposes.
Don't be too lazy to use your store discount cards (especially at grocery stores). I cannot believe the number of people who forego savings. If using a store credit card, pay it off when you get home with online banking.
Don't buy what you cannot afford. Period. (Just as you wouldn't hunt more animals than you could possibly eat or store).
Shop in your own home. I do this regularly. My daughter and I swap clothes, or find something in the house that could be better used elsewhere or in a new way. She recently converted a play room into a study. We used a desk that was sitting in the corner of another room, recovered a tattered office chair, found an unused poster still in the packaging, and bought new decorative elements in the clearance party supplies section of a craft store. A cheap room make-over!
Use your library! Books, music, movies. Free instead of $20 plus each! And, libraries often have book sales (ours has two per month). I walk out with a grocery bag of books for under $20.
Consignment and vintage stores offer some unique things--just watch for overpricing.
Don't be afraid of curb finds. Some of my favorite furniture pieces were pulled off the sidewalk with "free, please take" signs on them.
Have a freezer/pantry food week. This is where you inventively eat only out of the freezer/pantry/fridge to use up things before they go bad. No store runs.
Make a trade with a friend! One person's trash or white elephant may be another's treasure. Exchange books, music--give away bulk food you know you aren't going to use in due time.

I like to think that employing these hunting/foraging techniques allows you to spend your money on travel, education or artisan goods. Instead of spending hundreds on a "designer" bag, get a hand tooled one from a true craftsman. Same goes for jewelry. Art. Furniture. The whole point of mass-produced is cheapness and convenience, and where quality isn't your biggest concern, this works well. Spend your real dollars where they will support years of learning and honing skill. See the recent film below:
http://www.amazon.com/Crafted-Yuji-Nagatani/dp/B00ZKPHF58/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438185134&sr=8-1&keywords=crafted

Go beyond seeing the New Age Paleo lifestyle as just relating to food--see it as a mindset. One that avoids waste and seeks that which will serve efficiently and thoughtfully so as to preserve resources for everyone.

I'm off to the latest clearance sale!

Lisabeth (p.s., See my Budget Punk Paleo guide under Resources)

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Back in the Saddle Again

6/30/2015

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Home Thoughts, From Abroad

Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England-now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops-at the bent spray's edge-
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
-Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)

I've returned from two weeks spent in the U.K. with my family and a group of high school students. We had a glorious visit filled with interesting trips to cultural landmarks: Chartwell (the home of Winston Churchill), the Tate Britain Museum (home to many J.M.W. Turner paintings), the British Museum (home to the Elgin Marbles which should be returned to Greece), The Bluebell Railway (site of historical scenes filmed for Downton Abbey), Kew Gardens (the oldest and largest horticultural research collection), and so on. And we visited many pubs, some dating all the way back to the 14th century and still sporting their original fireplaces with huge, blackened sagging beams and low ceilings. Trying to eat paleo in England--a disaster!

Our days started with a breakfast provided in our lodging--very basic cereal, toast, and fruit/fruit juice. I supplemented with my chocolate protein shake mix that I'd brought with me. Lunch, often provided by the school with which we were traveling, was a packaged chicken/bacon/mayo on whole wheat sandwich, crisps (potato chips), maybe a small apple, and a Cadbury "Chomp" bar (a small, gooey chocolate/caramel thing). I always passed on the Cadbury bar. Sometimes I was able to get a protein/veggie dinner, but good luck with that in a pub. The fare is not light and favors breaded foods, popovers, mashed potatoes, and fried potatoes--your "veggie" choices are usually peas, mushy peas or baked beans. One night, desperate for something other than fried fish, I ordered a "gammon steak." It was a thick, salty hunk of ham with a thick rind of fat. Won't make that mistake again. Salads are usually not of the "tossed, green" variety, they are prepared salads, and vinaigrettes are unheard of in restaurants. You'll find bottles of "salad cream" instead (a sort of Miracle Whip type product in a squeeze bottle). This is the land of lots of cured meats, meat pies, potatoes, baked goods, and dairy. (My daughter, who hates dairy, took Lactaid pills with her in anticipation of problems). Thankfully, we did so much walking that I didn't gain weight and came back in loose clothes. The experience left me grateful to have the availability of foods I have at home but it also has me thinking about how to do better as I continue to travel.

One of the challenging issues with travel is not just the food culture you are visiting but the fact that you are in an artificial situation where you aren't in control of your kitchen and cooking. Therefore, you are reliant on what is available at restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, airports and convenience stores. This makes getting basic, fresh fare very difficult. At the airports, I ate oatmeal, "taco" salads with veggies, salsas, and meat--no chips or cheese, and packages of nuts, fruit and yogurt. It wasn't great but it worked. On the plane I even had a bag of cashews in lieu of the late-night "dinner" meal. Looking at my husband's Chicken Teriyaki plate, I think I got the better end of the bargain. I drank tea in England since the coffee there is universally awful. There is still a great fondness for Nescafe instant and the use of thin, homogenized milk as lightener means the coffee always has that greyish tone and watery taste. I actually appreciated regaining my love of tea enjoying many cups of English Breakfast or Early Grey. Since returning, I'm drinking more tea than coffee and even starting the day with a couple of mugs of green jasmine (my drink of choice for many years when I was off of coffee). One of the fun things to do now that I'm back home, is to think about how I might incorporate some flavors or traditions of England into my world without taking on the less healthful aspects. I'm sure that the English taste for sweets and baked goods is a response to the bitter tannins in tea (Sidney Mintz in his book, Sweetness and Power suggests this and also puts forward a fascinating thesis that tea and sugar enabled the industrial revolution by providing easy, warm and comforting calories to workers). The emphasis on meat and dairy relates to the Isles' history of animal husbandry and the raising of livestock. The potato was brought over from the so-called "New World" in the sixteenth-century and adopted because 30% more calories are provided by potatoes than any cereal crop on the same amount of land. Tubers such as potatoes are also an easier staple food source as they require little in the way of processing (no chafing or milling). The cuisine also has been influenced by the imperial history of England and thus curry seasonings and chutneys abound as well. So, I'm thinking about how I can capitalize on some of these traditions and flavors, working in my recent experience, but adapting it to the way I now want to eat.

A few ideas, with dairy still being employed, but mindfully and with an emphasis on those forms easy to digest and known to be healthful:

Instead of scones, clotted cream, and raspberry jam (as pictured above), a bowl of fresh raspberries topped with coconut milk, a few golden raisins, and some chopped walnuts or almonds. Accompanied by a pot of tea.
Baked, not fried, fish served with parsnip fries and fresh-made tartar sauce.
Omelets with the veggies fried in coconut oil and curry powder
Mango Lassi: 1 cup. of buttermilk, 1/2 cup of water, a cup of fresh or frozen mango chunks, a half a frozen banana and a packet of stevia powdered sweetener, whirl in blender.
Roast beef with rutabaga mash (I'll save that for winter), with brussel sprouts and carrots
Coconut milk ice cream
"Trifles" made with greek yogurt and fresh fruit.

I'm happy to have been to England again, but also happy to be home and back in the "paleo" saddle. Our "New Age" offers us the privilege of travel to new countries and cultures. It isn't healthy to go with an an attitude that you will hate everything or experience difficulty. It's best to try, to embrace, to do a lot of sightseeing that involves walking, and then to come away with a newly found appreciation for what you learned about others and yourself. That's the beauty of New Age Paleo. A willingness to experiment and reinvent, honoring the past, present and future.

Happy Trails and Travels,
Lisabeth

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Standing Tall

6/8/2015

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Photo by Matthias Trautsch, Berlin from Wiki Commons

Today I came across an article on NPR about posture in modern "civilization" and how we have lost it. The article focused on the work of Esther Gokhale, a sufferer of back pain herself, who decided after one back surgery, and another one impending, to investigate posture in different areas of the world. She contended that indigenous cultures had members who were able to carry loads of goods or water on their heads, or work or sit on the ground, without terrible back issues. Her hypothesis after doing her own field research was that members of tribal, indigenous cultures had a "J" shaped spine, not an "S" shaped one. Furthermore, investigation into photographic evidence from the late 19th/early 20th centuries revealed that even in the West, this type of posture was commonly shown. Thus, she concluded that in our modern 20th/21st century world, we have built in comfort--superficially--and our backs have changed and ached as a result.

As a yoga teacher, I find the discussion of posture fascinating and critically important. Indeed, so many Westerners have poor posture due to many lifestyle choices: inactivity, ill-designed chairs, too much weight, and too much time spent not only sitting, but hunched over a keyboard or video game. The result can be "turtle backs" that curve at the top thus placing way too much stress on the thoracic area of the spine. Try this exercise right now: sit up straight, now pull your biceps in toward one another so that your upper back curves, feel what this does to the middle of your back. Now, pull the arms apart, roll your shoulders back and down, and open the chest in the heart region. Feel how this frees the spine, particularly that whole middle portion. This is how your back loves to feel.

Paleo people didn't have to worry about slouching in their chairs, or even about sitting too much. However, we in the modern world do. Many of our jobs, especially office jobs, seem to require that we park our rumps for hours on end at our desks. Paleo living isn't just about eating, it's about cultivating those human habits that honor our physiology. So why not focus on posture? So many people suffer terrible back pain that paying attention to this foundational part of your health is critical. Here are some things that can help you to pay more attention to your posture. As one yoga teacher once said to our class "you're only as young as your back feels."

Practice Mountain Pose: Stand with feet hips' width apart. Now ground your feet into the floor, feeling all four corners. Stack your ankles over your heels, your knees over your ankles, your hips over your knees, pull the belly up and in to give you "corset" strength. Stack shoulders over hips, chin parallel to floor, crown of head reaching skyward. This is standing tall.
Stand more at work. I never teach sitting down. I feel that the energy I get from standing and moving brings more energy to my teaching. I wear wedge sandals or heeled boots as I find they provide more support than flat shoes when standing for many hours. If you have a desk job, think about what you might do standing. Do you have to sit to make phone calls? Probably not. Is there a book case or cabinet or counter where you could stand and work instead of sitting?
Get rid of your office chair. Yes, you read that right. Upon seeing a colleague using an exercise ball as a desk chair, I decided to do the same. It's transformative. Now I have to hold myself up straight and tall to work sitting. My tummy is working while I'm working and it feels fantastic. You can get a ball for about $40. DO IT IMMEDIATELY. I promise you'll never look back.
Restorative Pose: Lie back on the floor, or even your bed, with a rolled up towel under your lumbar (lower back). Close the eyes and relax the back into the support. If it tenses up then you REALLY need this, work with it until it softens. Do this every night. ESSENTIAL for those suffering daily back pain.
Meditate. Buy a meditation cushion (also about $40). Train yourself to sit upright with legs crossed, or lower legs bent under upper legs (Hero's pose). Start with two minutes, then work up to five, then ten, then twenty. Focus only on breath and opening the heart. Every time you start to feel yourself slouching, open the chest, pull shoulder blades back toward each other and feel the spine straighten.
Less television, more walking. If you spend all day at work on your butt, then why spend your night there too?
Go Paleo, Drop some weight. Five to ten percent of your body weight is a big deal and so good for backs and knees. Don't believe me? Pick up a couple of ten pound weights, or five pound weights and walk around with them for a few minutes.

I just got back from South Dakota where prairie dogs, like the ones pictured above, sit straight up out of their holes. The people spend too much time indoors (in trailers and houses) and too much time sitting due to the lack of employment opportunities. A sedentary lifestyle is just one of many modern ills impacting the people of the Pine Ridge Reservation negatively, but it is an health problem so many of us suffer from due to a life filled with passivity. The first step to better posture is awareness. Put a post-it on your computer to remind you to sit up tall. Better yet, figure out more ways to stand up tall. It's a primary step in feeling confident and strong and building a healthy lifestyle. For your reference, I've included a link below to the article that inspired this blog.

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/06/08/412314701/lost-posture-why-indigenous-cultures-dont-have-back-pain

Standing tall--

Lisabeth

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Eating in a Desert

5/28/2015

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From www.publicdomainpictures.net

This upcoming week is going to present me with a big challenge. I'm traveling with students to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to do service work. Located near the Badlands, this is the land of prairies, followed by striated buttes and mountains as one moves westward. We will be working at an organization called Re-Member which reaches out to the needs of tribal members of the Lakota Sioux who need bunk beds built and outhouses dug. As with so many tribal reservations, certain problems prevail: massive unemployment, lacking education, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and the physical ills (obesity/diabetes/high blood pressure) that come with living in a food desert.

A food desert is any area (rural or urban) where fresh foods are difficult to find, and very expensive to purchase. I experienced this last year when my family took a trip down to Southern Ohio to see the various native mounds. We found ourselves surrounded by fields of corn and soy, and yet searching fruitlessly for a fresh market or farmstand. The most common places to buy foodstuffs were the local dollar stores (which had increased their options and offerings to serve the community's needs). You'd go to a restaurant and the green beans were always canned. Again, ironic given that you are in prime farm land.

The desert status of Pine Ridge is also ironic because prior to European contact, the Lakota had no problem feeding themselves. They hunted the plentiful buffalo that roamed the prairies and used indigenous plants to supplement. The native diet was indeed a paleo one with an emphasis on meat for primary nutrition. With such a diet, obesity and nutritional deficiencies were not an issue. With a diet now that consists primarily of pre-packaged, processed foods that can be purchased inexpensively, the population is suffering the same ills as the overall American population--but to an even greater degree of alarm.

For myself, my 'new age' solution will be to take some foods that will help me not to throw my body out of whack. My Quest protein bars, some Early Grey tea bags, some packages of freeze-dried fruit, and some chocolate protein shake packets, but I do this with some reservations. I'm privileged to be able to afford these foods and to have the knowledge to know that this is what I should be eating. The people who live at Pine Ridge have been removed from their ancestral diet and knowledge of it and have suffered mightily as a result. Of course, this is a more insidious suffering than Indian Removal policies of the past centuries, the killing of buffalo herds simply for hides or so as to eliminate native resources, and massacres such as Wounded Knee. However, the food desert that exists on tribal lands dictates a continued legacy of demoralization. I know how poorly I feel when I cannot eat well. I would not want junk food to be my only option. The Lakota are trying to again raise buffalo as a source of income and nutrition, but this alone cannot solve the problems that have become embedded in the native diet and the availability of resources on the reservation. I will try to help support these people by buying lots of buffalo jerky while I'm there. See article below: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/21/restoring-buffaloandresistingdroughtonthereservation.html

So, this week I challenge you to think about several things. If you live in a food desert, how do you deal with that reality? Does it mean more travel? Higher food costs? More homegrown produce? More things ordered via internet/mail? If you don't live in a food desert, what resources do you take for granted? Farmers' Markets? CSA's? High-end groceries? Restaurants? And finally, what "food desert" foods are you still allowing in your life and why? How do they impact your health? Your psyche? Your pocketbook?

I know I'll have more to say when I return. Until then, be mindful and think new age paleo.

Lisabeth

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The Closet Needs A Cleaning!

5/22/2015

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Image from www.hercampus.com (A Boston University student who's created a nice resource for young college women)

I'm paleo-psyched this week! I weighed in this morning at my lowest weight in years, 123 pounds, and had a great shopping trip yesterday. My closet now includes two size 4 dresses, a pair of size 4 SKINNY pants (yep, SKINNY pants), and a pair of size 2 wide-legged trousers. Now I'm no fool. I know that manufacturers are "vanity sizing" much of their clothing these days, so twenty years ago, these clothes may have been a couple of sizes bigger. However, I also know that this fall I was thinking I might have to up my pants from size 10 petite to 12 because the weight just wasn't coming off no matter how healthy I thought I was eating and how much I was exercising. I was almost ready to accept the necessity of getting larger as I hit the milestone of 50. Now, let me specify that there is NOTHING wrong with size 10 or 12 or 14. So much depends on your overall size and height. But I'm tiny--5' 2" and petite all over (except for my narrow size 9.5 feet!) On a small person, 5 extra pounds can look like 10 or 15. More importantly, I wasn't feeling my absolute best. I felt good and like I was fit, but not my best. I too often felt bulky or bloated and truthfully it showed more mentally than physically. I decided that I wasn't heading into my milestone birthday feeling dissatisfied or resigned. The two times in my life when I've weighed less and felt the best have been when I've eaten a low-carb, paleo-style diet. Hubris and denial kept me playing with other models over the past few years, but this is the reality. This diet works for me--and I think it works for most people, but it means eschewing what we come to determine as "normal" eating. It even means rejecting what has been labeled as "healthy" eating. It means no grains, beans, sugar or alcohol. Most paleo diets also call for no dairy, but I'll admit that this is where I differ. As a woman in middle age I find the calcium and protein of foods like Greek yogurt and cottage cheese essential and I don't intend to give those up. I also am not a terribly enthusiastic meat-eater. I'm fine with meat in moderate quantities, but I'm not looking for it three times a day. Including dairy gives me more meal options and insures that I'm getting my calcium from white sources as well as green (cooked greens, green plant infusions). Well-known herbalist Susun Weed highly recommends getting your calcium from this full spectrum and I think it is wise advise. (Check her out at www.susunweed.com). Next week I'm going to start a closet cleanout. Most of my pants are now ridiculously big and look like clown pants. Those can go to Goodwill (if using those drop-off boxes make sure it's a reputable organization), as well as anything bought to "cover" my body in a billowy way. Small people also little silly when they wear clothes that overwhelm them. In fact, that's good advice for everyone. No "tent-like" clothes, they add pounds rather than subtract! I chose the picture above because it incorporates two of my closet principles. One: all white hangers (no mismatched). Two: hanging according to color. This makes getting dressed so easy and stress-free. When was the last time you did a closet cleanout? If you can't remember, then it's time. If you're unhappy with how your body is looking, and more importantly, FEELING, then start with a closet purge. Then come up with your paleo diet plan. Make it simple--here's my advice:

Plain Greek Yogurt & fruit for breakfast
Salad with tuna, sardines, nuts or cottage cheese for lunch
Chicken/Turkey/Beef or Pork for dinner with an array of cooked veggies
Chocolate Avocado Pudding (with bananas or dates used for sweetening) for a dessert/treat
Drink lots of water, still or sparkling, and brewed (not bottled) teas. Have your coffee in the morning, no sugar.

Summer is on the way and you'll want to feel light, fresh and like your "house" (here meaning your body and your closet) is in order.

Start cleaning "house" and feel yourself lighten physically and mentally. Lisabeth

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I'm Lisabeth. Having tried just about every diet to be my best self, I'm realizing that quality protein, whole foods, and no starchy carbs really is the only thing that works for me. Join me as I take us on a journey to discover how we can go paleo in a modern new age..

Articles:

Article from NPR on eating breakfast:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/21/433239573/rethinking-breakfast-what-we-eat-may-trump-when-we-eat

Article from NPR on Hunter-Gatherer Society
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/05/15/406721880/why-we-can-depend-on-the-kindness-of-strangers

Article from NPR on Paleo People Grinding Flour:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/09/14/440292003/paleo-people-were-making-flour-32-000-years-ago

Sweeping away more . . . Continue the Cleanse

Refinement: More Paleo Cleansing Tips

Sweeping Away Dead Leaves: A Fall Paleo Cleanse

Smooth Living

Back to Paleo School

Hunting and Foraging

Back in the Saddle Again

Standing Tall

Eating in a Desert

The Closet Needs A Cleaning!

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